What happened to freedom in this nation. Has it been replaced by religion. The religious zealots continue impose their distorted values. Their ultimate goal is to turn this nation into a theocracy. And it would appear that the rest of us act like sheep awaiting slaughter.
As my jewish friend always said: "Who cares whose religion
it is, as long as you show a sense of tradition and carry it on."
Rightfully so! We celebrate the jewish tradition with them,
they celebrate christmas with us, which by the way is a family
tradition to us, regardless of anyones religious belief.
As for Halloween: had those parents been better
organized, they would bring their children in costumes to
school. I would have! It is not PC to cancel an American
tradition for the sake of THREE parents - as I am sure the
students themselves couldn't care less.
Implied is a freedom OF and also FROM religion. Guess thats lost in practise.
We have an ol coot in our school board who keeps getting re-elected because we all love im. Anytime anyone of these PC appeals comes up (and they do) He leans forward and asks the parent
"are you sure your not doing all this just to gain attention to yourself? Before we take this matter up, will you reconsider and just sit down?"
Then he gets an applause and often (not always) the petitioning parent is snickered into a silence .
So far weve been free of 'WInter Harvest Festivals" and all that other PC crap.
Whatabout Purim?, I live to help all my Jewish friends celebrate Hannukah because they know Ill kill for a good lattke. Christmas is family and , for me, its a dark time of my years circle, so even when I was a Catholic, I was pretty much a non-participant in what I still consider an over commercial, season of unrealizeable expectations all wrapped up in a fantastic myth. However, Id never get in the way of others to do their own celebrating because I know people (and some of them I love dearly) who are "Christmas people". They make me gag , but we meet at the other end of the holiday time.
Just as long as they don't mess with Valentine's Day.
What could possibly be wrong with a kid in wings and a diaper running around with a bow and arrow?
Idolatry. (Or whatever believing in the Greek Pantheon would be called...)
Slappy Doo Hoo wrote:dlowan wrote:It has never been a tradition in Oz to celebrate it, but it is creeping in as American culture dominates more and more, and the retail sector is, of course, pushing it for all it is worth. So, I am a bit grumpy about it.
That's because America kicks ass. We have a bunch of ninjas here. And the New England Patriots have won three out of four Super Bowls. You should take a step back and say, "holy sh!t! Tom Brady is American! I'm going to go buy me a Camaro, drink Bud, and dress up for Halloween!"
That makes sense, right?
What's a super bowl?
Do you mix christmas cake in it?
Why do you fight over such a thing?
Why is they super? Are they big, or do they jump small buildings in a single bound? Or, is it something to do with McDonald's? That's American, right?
Who is Tom Brady?
Why don't you speak English?
dagmaraka wrote:yes. me and my mom cheat. we have duck. i'll have some fish fingers, just to be able to say i had some fish, but i ain't doing the carp thing. some people are good at it. i wouldn't mind, if it weren't for the bones. each year a few people choke on them...
Carp, duck, what's the diff. (Carpe duckem)
We had a family tradition about not choking on fish bones so we ate turkey.
The chaining the table to stay together is sweet, maybe that's the base for paper chains on the tree.
oh, paper chains, good call. that is probably related. i prefer duck or a goose to turkey, but i'll take turkey over a carp anyday. bleeeechk.
We used to have carp at Christmas. Nice German tradition, and as a kid <mmmmmaybe now a bit> I'd have done anything for melted butter - and carp was always served with melted butter. mmmm
hamburger has some stories about their early days in Canada when they kept the live carp in the bathtub til it was time to be prepared.
I was thinking of this PC nonsense yesterday when our paper ran an article about an Asian man who owns an Asian restaurant and has a logo that is a cartoon of himself being denied the running of his ad in a high school newpaper because it was "insulting to Asians".
Anyways....
mrcolj posted a cool reply on my "your religion and halloween" thread about how Christians have incorporated a lot of pagan festivals into their religion so why should halloween be any different.
I'll see if I can find it....
Well, I like turkey, but I've been known to occasionally jump out of my rut and try something new.
... but it sure won't be carp.
In the year 2005, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States, and said, "Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me. Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing along with a few good humans."
He gave Noah the blueprints, saying, "You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights."
Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard - but no Ark.
"Noah!" He roared, "I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark?"
"Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah, "but things have changed. I needed a building permit. I've been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbors claim that I've violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision.
Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it.
When I started gathering the animals, an animal rights group sued me.
They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. They argued the accommodation was too restrictive, and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space.
Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood.
Immigration and Naturalization is checking the green-card status of most of the people who want to work.
To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species.
So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this Ark."
Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky. Noah looked up in wonder and asked, "You mean you're not going to destroy the world?"
"No," said the Lord. "The government beat me to it."
